GeekCLE is going on a field trip over to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for the Frontiers of Astronomy Lecture Series. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Afterwards we are going to head over to ABC the Tavern Uptown in University Circle for a couple of drinks and everyone is welcome!

Topic: The Mysteries of Black Holes

Speaker: M. Coleman Miller, Ph.D., University of Maryland

Black holes have long fascinated scientists and the general public alike, with their tantalizing role as portals of doom and key to physics in the extreme. Remarkably, not only have individual black holes been detected, but we are now beginning to appreciate that rather than being just selfish consumers of matter and radiation, black holes may play a key role in the development of entire galaxies. Moreover, in the next few years we will have many new tools to probe the nature of black holes, from surveys that will regularly see stars eaten by black holes to new instruments that will detect the vibrations of space-time as black holes spiral together. Dr. Miller will provide a historical and current overview of all of these topics, as well as discuss the bizarre effects expected near black holes.